TO SMORGRAUTBERGET. 373 



fourteen polar oxen. We held a council, but thought the animals 

 were in such an inconvenient spot for us that it would hardly be 

 worth while to spend time in going after them. They were far 

 away, the country was difficult, and we should also have to ascend 

 to a good height. By way of a change, too, we had quite good 

 driving weather that day, and so thought we had better make the 

 most of it, and do as much as we could. Then, too, having come 

 to parts where there was game, it was to be hoped we should soon 

 find a herd which it would be easier to get at. 



But we came to regret this decision. No sooner had we begun 

 to drive again, than the wind sprang up, and we had rough weather 

 for many days. The ice was often so bad that we could not go 

 on, and there was nothing for it then but to camp and wait for 

 an improvement. But we kept steadily at it, made use of every 

 opportunity, and at last reached Kvitberg on the evening of 

 May 14. 



Kvitberg was a first-rate place for observations. We made our 

 camp close under it, and meant to go to the top, but the weather 

 absolutely forbade any climbing. We had to content ourselves 

 by planting the theodolite a little way above the tent, at a point 

 where the view towards the west and east would not have been at 

 all bad, if only the weather had been a little clearer. We waited 

 patiently for twenty-four hours, and then really got observations : 

 longitude, latitude, and an azimuth ; but we did not see much 

 of the sun, and very little of our surroundings. 



On May 15 we left this place. A stiff north-west breeze was 

 sending the snow dancing in front of it, but we had the wind 

 at our backs, and went so fast that clouds of snow flew up behind 

 the sledges. 



We now resolved to find out for certain the question which 

 had long exercised us, namely, whether ' Scheis 6 ' (Schei Island) 

 was really an island or only a long peninsula. We drove south 

 through a waterway west of the island, and ascertained it for 

 certain to be an island. The sound between Heiberg Land and 

 Schei Island has been named Tlatsund.' 



We had now, of course, gone considerably out of our way, but 

 progress was easier so far to the south, and I think it was a good 



